Fleetwood Mac's classic lineup of Christine McVie, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham brought their first tour with the five of them back together since the '90s to NYC for two shows at Madison Square Garden this week, Monday (10/6) and Tuesday (10/7). The shows were jam packed with classic songs like "Dreams," "You Make Loving Fun," "Landslide," "Rhiannon," "Silver Springs" and so many more, plus other gems like "I Know I'm Not Wrong." Full setlist and a few videos from the shows, below.

Fleetwood Mac's tour has one more NYC-area show this Saturday (10/11) at Prudential Center in Newark (tickets), and they've now expanded the tour in 2015 including a return to MSG on January 22 followed by other area shows on January 24 at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall, January 25 at Nassau Coliseum, and February 8 at Prudential Center. Tickets for those show will be on sale via Ticketmaster soon.

Judas Priest are hitting the road in support of their new album Redeemer of Souls starting in October. The tour will cover the States through November, including stops at the previously announced Louisville's Louder Than Life Fest and Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest. On October 9, Judas Priest and supporting sleaze balls Steel Panther will drop into Brooklyn's Barclays Center. The following day, October 10, the heavy metal icons will hit Harrah's in Atlantic City. A few days later, October 17, they hit East Rutherford, NJ for a show at Izod Center. CT, PA and many more states are being visited too. Ticket information will be announced soon. All dates are listed below.

Redeemer of Souls, the band's 17th studio full-length, will hit stores on July 8. From the released songs and samples, the album purposefully and proudly strides back to Priest's '70s material, ringing in a new era with an identifiably classic sound. Fans in the New York area can purchase the album on July 8 at FYE at the 43rd street at Hard Rock TSQ and have the album signed by the band in the Hard Rock Café at 6:30 PM.

I got word about ten days ago that Comedy Central was going into high gear deciding if they wanted to air TCGS. This past weekend, I was in a sandwich shop in Toronto when I got a tough call - after much debate, Comedy Central have decided that TCGS is not for them.

Obviously this is a huge bummer, and there are a lot of feelings to sort out here. I'm sad it won't be going down. I feel like I let my friends down. I'm definitely a bit shell-shocked - it's been a crazy six months and I was pretty convinced for a moment there that it might actually happen.

Most of all though, I feel grateful.

Read the rest at his Tumblr, though he notes: "I still feel in my gut like we are going to find a new home."

Meanwhile, continue to watch new and old episodes on his website (Lemuria was his last musical guest), and go out and catch Chris live (at bigger and bigger venues). Tickets are now on sale for a 7/15 "Chris Gethard and Friends: show at NYC's Highline Ballroom, a pretty big room, but he can handle it.

Chris also plays the Slipper Room in NYC this Tuesday (6/10) at part of SWEET before opening some shows for his friendMike Birbiglia including one in Atlantic City on 6/14. He also appears at an upcoming Night Train at Littlefield, at UCB for the upcoming Del Close Marathon, and at this year's Outside Lands festival. All dates are listed along with the last episode of the show (with Lemuria) below...

Kanye West, whose Yeezus LP made a ton of best of 2013 lists (including my own), recently wrapped up his Yeezus tour which saw him putting on some pretty epic shows all over North America, including four in NYC. He's now expanded that tour into 2014, and though it doesn't bring him back to NYC, it does hit the nearby area quite a few times, including Prudential Center on February 15 in Newark, Mohegan Sun Arena on February 21 in Connecticut, an Atlantic City show on February 22 at Boardwalk Hall, and February 23 at Nassau Coliseum.

Tickets for the Mohegan Sun, Atlantic City, and Nassau Coliseum shows go on sale Friday (1/10) at 10 AM. The Mohegan Sun show has an AmEx presale and a VIP package pesale starting Wednesday (1/8) at 10 AM and a Ticketmaster presale starting Thursday (1/9) at 10 AM, and the Atlantic City show has a VIP package presale starting Wednesday (1/8) at 10 AM and a Ticketmaster presale starting Thursday (1/9) at 10 AM. No on-sale for the Prudential Center show yet, but it should appear soon at the same link as the other three.

Updated dates (including PA and Albany) are listed, along with the "Bound 2" video, below...

Atlantic City police arrested 42 people and confiscated more than $11,000 during last week's Phish concerts at Boardwalk Hall.

The Atlantic City Police Department Special Investigations Section (Vice and Intelligence Unit) and TAC Team, with members of the Atlantic City Task Force and Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office Guns, Gangs and Narcotics Unit conducted several surveillance and undercover operations around Boardwalk Hall from Thursday through Saturday.

Drugs also were recovered. They include hashish, MDMA, psilocybin mushrooms, LSD in paper blotters and sugar cubes, prescription pills, bath salts, 51 nitrous oxide tanks and marijuana in several forms, including cookies and brownies.

Two of the arrests, both women from Brooklyn, were for prostitution charges...

Wait, what? I thought prostitutes from Brooklyn had better taste in music!

Every Phish Halloween show since 1994 has featured a musical costume. The band picks a classic album and plays it, in full, in the middle of its three-set show. This year the band opted for a new approach, "breaking from tradition" to play an album from the future: Phish's own "Wingsuit."

During one of these song debuts, the lyrically absurd "Wombat," a man in a wombat suit hobbled out and danced on stage with four back-up dancers. The song mentioned Abe Vigoda, star of TV's Fish and Sal Tessio from The Godfather, and afterward when Trey Anastasio bantered that Abe Vigoda himself happened to be in the suit, one might have thought the Tony-nominated redhead was merely kidding.

Sure enough, after a quick body double switch, the man in the wombat suit hobbled back on stage and revealed himself to be ... ABE F*&KING VIGODA.

Neo-soul great Jill Scott is still doing shows in support of 2011's The Light of the Sun, and she's got a few more coming up this year, including a couple year-end shows in the NYC-area. First she'll play an Atlantic City show on December 29 at Caesars, and then she'll come to NYC on the actual night of New Year's Eve for a show at Radio CIty Music Hall (12/31). Opening the Radio City show is Luke James and DJ Premier. Tickets for the Atlantic City show go on sale today (10/25) at 10 AM, and tickets (same link) for the Radio City show go on Chase presale today at 11 AM, with a general on-sale beginning Friday, November 1 at 11 AM. All dates are listed below.

As discussed, Jill Scott contributed vocals to "Calls" off the new Robert Glasper album. That song recently got the video treatment, which you can watch, along with a Spotify stream of Jill's most recent album and the list of tour dates, below...

"Frontman Dave Gahan played with his mic and shared it with the crowd on a few occasions while busting some moves. Gahan didn't remain the center of attention for the entire show though as Martin Gore, the band's principal songwriter, got up and shared vocal duties on a handful of songs. He even sang a few on his own, including a haunting version of "Higher Love." Fans exploded in applause when the band performed popular numbers like "Enjoy the Silence" and "Personal Jesus." However, the biggest highlight of the night was when they returned to the stage for an encore and played their synth-pop classic "Just Can't Enough." It was a wonderful throwback for older fans and a nice counter to the outfit's gloomier songs. In a way the band's setlist came full circle that night, some of the new with some of the old - something for everyone." [BV Chicago]

Not long after hitting Chicago, Depeche Mode brought their North American tour to Ovation Hall at Revel Casino in Atlantic City last night (in 2009 they played the Borgata). Pictures, the setlist and video from the NJ show are in this post.

Depeche Mode continue their tour this weekend in Canada before returning to the NYC-area to play both Barclays Center and Jones Beach with tour-mate Bat For Lashes who didn't play with them in Atlantic City and headlined Webster Hall in NYC the same night instead. All tour dates are listed with the rest of the AC pictures and stuff below...

It's only been less than a month since Phish played the NYC-area on their ongoing tour, but if you're already going through withdrawal, fear not Phish fans; the band have just announced that they'll return for an East Coast tour in the fall. The dates include upstate NY shows on 10/22 at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester and 10/23 at Glens Falls Civic Center, a CT show on 10/27 at XL Center, and finally three nights of Halloween in Atlantic City: Boardwalk Hall on October 31, November 1, and November 2. An online request period for the tickets (including a 3-day pass option for the AC shows) is currently ongoing at tickets.phish.com, and general on-sales begin August 8.

The reunited Soundgarden, who have played NYC quite a fewtimes in the past year, brought their spring tour through the area for a show at Atlantic City's Borgata this past Friday (5/3). The setlist leaned most heavily on their classic albums, Superunknown and Badmotorfinger, in addition to 2012's King Animal, but included a few tracks from other albums and EPs too.

More pictures, the full setlist, and a video of almost the entire show, below...

If I ever did go see Motley Crue live (you know, like ironically) (hopefully with Dave Hill in attendance), it would have to be somewhere awesome like Atlantic City, NJ (where they happen to be playing on May 25) (all tour dates are listed below). That said, it will never again be as awesome as it was in the 80s, as the below video illustrates....

Soundgarden have been touring a lot lately, and already played NYC three times this year and basically three other times at the end of last year. Now they've announced another leg of touring for 2013, and though it doesn't bring them back to NYC, it does include a show in the area which happens in Atlantic City on May 3 at the Borgata. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (3/1) at 10 AM.

A list of all dates and the Dave Grohl-directed video for "By Crooked Steps" below...

Kanye West did a three-night run in Atlantic City at Revel Ovation Hall from December 28-30. He performed completely alone on stage, without backup dancers, DJs, or a band, with widescreen projections of nature scenes behind him. The scenes changed a few times throughout the show, as did his outfits, which at certain points included two weirdly awesome masks -- one covered in diamonds and one covered in mock snow and/or feathers. For the set he stuck mainly to the hits, which at this point in his career results in a pretty long show, having touched on "Clique," "Mercy," "Power," "Jesus Walks," "Heartless," "Gold Digger," "Stronger," and many more.

At night 2, he gave a freestyle/rant during "Clique" about his criticism and about not receiving more major nominations in the 2013 Grammys. And on night 3, Kanye stopped in the middle of "Lost in the World" and asked, "Can we make some noise for my baby mama right quick?" implying that Kim Kardashian is pregnant. Neither Kanye or Kim have explicitly announced anything, but Kim's sister Kourtney later tweeted, "Been wanting to shout from the rooftops with joy and now I can! Another angel to welcome to our family. Overwhelmed with excitement!"

Kanye's friend/collaborator Jay-Z plays Barclays Center with Coldplay tonight for New Year's Eve. Maybe 'Ye will make an appearance? (though he probably has something better to do).

Videos of Kanye's "Clique" rant, his "baby mama" announcement, other songs from the show, the setlist from night 1, and another mask pic below...

Jack Black and Kyle Gass' comedy metal duo Tenacious D have announced an "Old School Acoustic Style" tour, harkening back to the duo's late '90s roots, which will begin in late February and continue into March. The tour doesn't come to NYC, but it comes close when it hits Atlantic City on February 28 at Showboat Hotel & Casino: House of Blues. Tickets for that show are on fan club presale (password: "Fenix") and Ticketmaster presale now, and general on-sale begins Friday (12/14) at 10 AM.

The D released a Black Friday Record Store Day 12" last month which featured the almost 12 minute track, "Jazz." A stream of that song, and a list of all dates are below.

After playing MSG on Tuesday (11/27), Neil Young & Crazy Horse continued their tour with Patti Smith at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly last night (11/29). The setlist was the same as MSG (and basically the rest of the tour), except for the encore which Neil sometimes changes up, treating Philly to the massive "Like A Hurricane." The full setlist is below.

As mentioned, Neil Young & Crazy Horse will play a Hurricane Sandy benefit in Atlantic City at the Borgata on December 6. Tickets for that show go on sale today at 10 AM.

Patti Smith isn't on that one but you can still catch her with NY&CH in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center on Monday (12/3) (tickets).

Kanye West came to Atlantic City's Revel Ovation Hall for two sold out shows this past July and he must have had a good time, because he plans to return to the venue for three nights right before New Year's Eve: December 28, 29, and 30. Tickets for all three nights go on sale to the general public on Friday, November 30 at noon with a Citi cardmember presale starting Tuesday (11/27) at 10 AM, and Revel and TIcketmaster presales starting Thursday, November 29 at 10 AM.

Being that Kanye only plays the three days leading up to New Year's Eve, it means that Jay-Z will potentially be available all three of the dates and Kanye will be free when Jay plays Brooklyn at Barclays Center on NYE (12/31) with Coldplay. Tickets for that show are still available.

As you might expect and/or saw on the news, Hurricane Sandy hit Coney Island pretty good with major flooding, including the New York Aquariumwhose entire 14-acre facility was entirely "under water". They won't be able to access the damage till the water recedes but we sure are worried about the sea otters and other animals there.

The Cyclone made it through intact, which is more than we can say for 'Jersey Shore' stomping grounds Seaside Heights, NJ whose boardwalk was almost entirely destroyed by the hurricane and the Jet Star roller coaster, well you can see for yourself::

Kanye West, who has been touring with Jay-Z in support of Watch the Throne, took some time off from that this past weekend to do a 2 night solo run at Atlantic City's Revel Ovation Hall on Friday (7/6) and Saturday (7/7). He performed no songs from WTT and played solo the entire time except for when he brought out Pusha T for "Runaway" the first night, and for their new song, "New God Flow," the second night (the first time they ever performed the track live). Like Kanye's other recent solo shows, it was a big on-stage production, with dancers, cranes, costumes, huge backgrounded artwork, etc.

Both nights got performances of "Mercy," which is purportedly going to be on the upcoming G.O.O.D. Music album, Cruel Summer (due out 8/7), which "New God Flow" will potentially appear on as well. Though Jay-Z didn't show up, Kanye did cover him the first night ("Run This Town"), and the second night he covered Michael Jackson ("PYT").

In related news, MTV reports that Kanye is planning a new solo album to come out at some point after Cruel Summer. The album will follow his 2010 year-end-list-topping My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Day 2 (6/24) of Orion Fest kicked off with sets by two different, but both very dark Brooklyn bands: Liturgy in the Frantic tent and A Place to Bury Strangers (whose new album, Worship, is out this week) on the Fuel stage. Unfortunately, I showed up a bit too late for Liturgy, but I was able to catch the tail end of APTBS' set, which saw Oliver Ackermann turning his monitors to face the audience and putting his vocal mic up to his guitar amp, creating even more noise than the trio already make. You can catch APTBS in their hometown on 7/27 at MHOW with Hunters.

Ghost

Then I headed over to the Orion stage for Sweden's Ghost, who were introduced by James Hetfield (who is openly a huge fan). James intro-ed the band saying, "It's never too early for scary," and despite the bright sun shining over their stage, he was right. The band, who always come decked out in white ghoul cloaks with singer Papa Emeritus in face paint, crown, and black cloak, were creepy as ever. Papa Emeritus lead the band with demonic priestlike conduction as he bellowed the vocals to a number of songs off their 2010 LP, Opus Eponymous. The only time he wasn't in the spotlight is when the band took an instrumental break and he stood in the back of the stage, hands pressed together and remaining completely still.

I left about halfway through Ghost for the second half of The Black Angels, who were playing the Frantic tent. They supplied a huge dose of droning psychedelia, and though singer Christian Bland's vocals are often delivered stoically, he's quite charismatic on stage. During their last song, which saw bassist (and Elephant Stone frontman) Rishi Dhir switch over to sitar, they went into an extended jam which eventually saw Rishi playing the sitar riff of The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" (which the Black Angels recorded an exclusive performance of at Coachella) and was soon joined by the rest of the band who covered about half of the song. Slowly, the band exited the stage until only Rishi was left, sending waves of sitar over the head-nodding audience.

Best Coast

Around 4 PM, Best Coast began their set at the Orion stage. Diplo was probably wondering what the faces of Metallica fans would look like during Liturgy's set, though I was also pretty curious about what they'd look like for Best Coast, who played the same stage Metallica would later headline with many anxious fanatics already claiming their front row spots. I think I did actually see one guy sleeping (or maybe he was just really zoning out to the music?), but overall they actually got a pretty great reaction from the people who gathered to see them. The new album, The Only Place (which came out last month), is lacking compared to their debut (it's not bad, just too much of the same), but this was definitely the best I've ever seen Best Coast -- no doubt due to their decision to finally add a bassist. When mixed into a setlist, some of the new songs, like "Why I Cry," actually proved themselves to be standouts, and the songs from her debut sounded great as well. In response to a fan request, they played "When I'm With You" earlier than planned, and before going into it, frontwoman Bethany Cosentino promised a Fleetwood Mac cover too. That cover presumably would have been "Rhiannon," which the band are contributing to the upcoming Fleetwood Mac tribute LP, and premiered on NPR this morning... but they never got around to it.

Next band on my schedule was Titus Andronicus, who were playing the Frantic tent. Before they began, I heard a crowd member ask someone, "So are these guys metal, or is it regular music?" A few minutes later, they fired up their set of regular music, riling up everyone in the tent. The crowd was pretty small -- everyone else was waiting for Metallica or watching Avenged Sevenfold -- but the people who were there were loving it, singing along, pumping their fists, and starting push pits. When the band began fan favorite, "No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future," the crowd's singing was overpowering frontman Patrick Stickles and if anyone wasn't taking part, they joined in on the ending's repeated "you will always be a loser!"

Metallica

When Metallica took the stage a bit before 8:30, they started their set exactly the same as the night before. Everything including AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" playing through the PA directly before the band walked out, the "Ecstasy of Gold" strings with accompanying video clip, followed by "Hit the Lights" and "Master of Puppets," was there, just like it had been the night before. I realize that Metallica have a routine for their shows, but at a festival where much of the crowd had shown up for both nights, it would have been an appropriate time to throw a few curveballs into the set. The only pre-Black Album songs included in Sunday's setlist that wasn't in Saturday's were ...And Justice for All's "Blackened" and "The Shortest Straw," which were great but it would've been nice to hear more/different tracks from Master of Puppets or Kill 'Em All.

That said, I had already been going into Black Album night with less anticipation than I had for the performance of their 1984 colossus Ride the Lightning the night before, and they did deliver well. The bigger Black Album tracks like "Enter Sandman," "Sad But True," and "Nothing Else Matters" were still tons of fun and the crowd goes nuts for them. One of the biggest highlights was "Through the Never," which of all the Black Album tracks is most similar to their thrash roots. Regardless of your thoughts on the album's material though, they performed it flawlessly and was a welcome dip into Black Album's deeper cuts that are less likely to see the light of day at other Metallica shows.

Metallica's Orion Music & More festival went down in Atlantic CIty's Bader Field this weekend, featuring the band performing Ride the Lightning in full on Saturday (6/23) and The Black Album on Sunday (6/24), in addition to many other bands across four stages. Bader Field, which was previously used as an airport, was filled with rockers of all kinds -- from the satanist metalheads to the Gaslight Anthem-shirt bearing rock and rollers. In addition to the bands, you could check out Lars Ulrich's curated film screenings, James Hetfield's classic cars, Kirk Hammett's horror memorabilia, rock memorabilia with everything from old Velvet Underground postcards to Melvins posters, and much much more. And all of this went down just across the water from the towering, lit-up excess of Atlantic City's Trump Plaza, Caesars Palace, and the like.

Baroness

I showed up to the festival on Saturday about halfway through Baroness' opening set on the main Orion Stage. Though the crowd was still pretty thin (they went on at 1 PM), the band delivered a strong set filled with a great mix of hooks and sludge, winning over most of the people who had showed up early enough to catch them.

Next stop for me was Lucero, also on the Orion Stage. "This song's called 'Women and Work,' it's about whiskey," said singer Ben Nichols of the title track off their most recent LP, making what was only one of many whiskey references during their set. They had a solid mix of the upbeat ones like that, and their sprawling slow-burners. The band sounded best on those slower cuts, as they drifted across the hot, sunny, mid-afternoon Bader Field, though I'm sure the foot-stompers would have taken charge in a smaller, tightly packed venue like their drunken NYE show at Brooklyn Bowl. The band did crank up the distortion on "Sounds of the City," and got great crowd reaction during "All Sewn Up," which he dedicated to the audience: "Plenty of fucking bad tattoos out there, so this one's for all y'all."

Fucked Up

After Lucero's set ended, the Fuel stage saw what might have been the wildest set of the day with Fucked Up. Frontman Damian Abraham began by saying, "Last year we were thinking... who would be the craziest band we could play with, and we were like... METALLICA!" before kicking into "Queen of Hearts" off 2011's epic David Comes to Life. As per ushe, it only took about three seconds into that song for Damian to barge into the crowd (where he spent most of the show) and another few minutes before he took his shirt off. They relied most heavily on material off of David, playing other highlights like "The Other Shoe," "Turn the Season," and more. In the past I've said that Damian's in-the-crowd antics tend to be less successful in larger venues, but at Orion fest he did everything in his power to make his way through the entire crowd. He must have been part of every single mosh pit that broke out, and traveled everywhere from the kids pushing against the barrier to the people standing in the very back.

The Gaslight Anthem followed, taking to the Orion Stage, and came out with an introduction from Lars (as many other bands that day did). After his introduction, the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" began playing through the PA as the band walked out, with frontman Brian Fallon decked out in an "RIP MCA" shirt (written in Run DMC typeset). I didn't notice it during Baroness or Lucero (and maybe Fucked Up's loud mayhem was to blame), but the sound at Orion Stage was significantly lower for all the non-Metallica bands that played, and it became easy to feel removed during The Gaslight Anthem's set. Despite the conditions, the band still sounded on point. They played "45," the single off their upcoming album, which is easily their best song since The '59 Sound, and older favorites as well, like "Old White Lincoln," "The Patient Ferris Wheel," and of course, "The '59 Sound."

Lars Ulrich introducing Hot Snakes

I then made my way over to the Frantic tent -- undoubtedly the best stage to watch bands -- for Hot Snakes, who were also introduced by Lars. Lars acknowledged the stage as well ("this is becoming my favorite stage of the day... this is where all the cool kids hang out!") and said tons of flattering things about Hot Snakes. The band thanked him a couple times for his compliments, before asking the crowd if any of us had heard of them, to which they were greeted with massive cheers that they seemed pretty surprised about. After all the intro-ing, the band began playing the buzzsaw guitar riff of "I Hate the Kids," the opening track off 2002's classic Suicide Invoice. They reunited last year after breaking in 2005, and they've definitely still got it. They played a good amount of Suicide Invoice, including "LAX," "Who Died," "Gar Forgets His Insulin," and the punishing title track.

After Hot Snakes' set, Modest Mouse took over the Orion Stage, and like with The Gaslight Anthem, the sound and setting of this stage did them absolutely no justice. We got some great songs -- "Bury Me With It," "Dramamine," "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" -- but they were mostly drowned out by the talking of the uninterested crowd, many of who had begun gathering for Metallica. Not surprisingly, "Float On" was the one song that stopped the crowd from talking and got 'em singing along. Things probably went over better for Modest Mouse at the more indie-centric Governors Ball, which they played on Sunday.

Suicidal Tendencies meanwhile were playing to a giant crowd on the smaller metal-centric Damage Inc. stage, with help from their ex-bandmate, Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo who joined them for a bunch of songs.

Suicidal Tendencies/Arctic Monkeys

Hands down, my highlight of the pre-Metallica portion of the festival was Arctic Monkeys, who played the Fuel stage directly before the headliners took over Orion. It goes without saying that Lars took the time to introduce this band (their first record is his favorite of the '00s) and he said tons of appreciative things about the band, including that he's seen them every time they've played his city. They opened their set with the attack of "Brianstorm," which sent the band into a frenzy that didn't let up once during the set. Though the band's latter two records have been a bit less popular than their first two, they've really shown a maturation in sound on them and especially on a festival with a mass of heavier bands a lot of their newer material fit right in. Songs like "Pretty Visitors" and "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair" border on sludge metal and stood out just as much, if not more than older classics like "Teddy Picker," "Fluorescent Adolescent," and "Dancefloor." In keeping spirits with the festival, during "Don't Sit Down," Alex Turner changed the line, "bite the lightning," to "Ride the Lightning," and pointed across the field at the Orion stage where Metallica's stage hands were gearing up for the band to play said album in full.

Alex takes complete control of the crowd and throws in a bit of playful arrogance, like pointing to Matt Helders and saying, "check this shit out," before one of Matt's more technical drum parts. The band pretty much kept their whole set in full throttle mode, eschewing many of their lighter songs, and they delivered with colossal power. Over ruthless drumming, stoner rock guitar solos, and overall ceaseless energy, Alex effortlessly topped it all off with his soaring vocals, almost of all of which were met by singalongs from the crowd.

Metallica

Finally, after the rest of the festival had wrapped up, the strings of Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold" from Metallica's S&M album began playing through the PA, which meant the band -- who for many, were the sole reason of coming to the festival -- were about to take the stage. They opened with a bunch of live staples, like "Hit the Lights," "Master of Puppets," "Sad But True," and "The Four Horsemen," plus a newer one as well. Then the lights went black and on the stage's screens, popped up a video of clips from Metallica's Ride the Lightning period, which was greeted by huge cheers of the thousands of people that knew the band's performance of the album was on the way. When soundclips of Cliff Burton surfaced on the video, even more applause came, honoring the band's bassist who performed with them on their first three albums before passing away in a tour bus accident in 1986. After the video ended, an animated play on the Lightning album artwork took over the screens and the album's final track, "Call of Ktulu" began playing (they performed the album in reverse). Once "Ktulu" picked up, the lights came back on, revealing the band members on stage playing the song, and yielding more and more applause.

After the instrumental track, live favorite "Creeping Death" came in, sending the band pummeling into a spiraling vector of thrash. The band's theatrics, rock star approach, and tendency to play hits-heavy sets can give off the feeling that they've reached the point where their shows are simply crowd-pleasers, but it's really not the case. The band whole heartedly rock the fuck out on stage, and despite everything else going on, simply watching them play is pretty mind blowing.

According to Lightning's reverse tracklist, after "Creeping Death," came "Escape," which the band have never performed live, mainly because James absolutely hates the track. For anyone who didn't know, he made it abundantly clear at the show and even looked like he was having a bit of trouble getting into it while they played it live for their first time ever, but by the end, the crowd had welcomed its live debut more than excellently. Though James wouldn't hear of it -- "NO!" he yelled when the crowd tried convincing him that they loved it.

Metallica

Then came "Trapped Under Ice," followed by "Fade to Black," which was by far the loudest singalong on the album during the acoustic guitar-led verses and, as occurs at Metallica concerts, the melody to Kirk's guitar solo in the intro. After the song's headbanging second half, James, with a smug smile, responded to the fanatic cheers with, "Yeah, I like that one too." The level of noise stayed above 10 for the following song, "For Whom the Bell Tolls," whose chorus saw tons of \m/-raised arms attached to bodies screaming along. Following the album's title track, Metallica wrapped up their performance of the album with much anticipated opening thrasher, "Fight Fire With Fire," for which the screens behind the band showed the masses of audience members singing along to the song's choppy vocals.

Directly after the performance of the album ended, the band stayed on stage and went immediately into more live staples -- "Nothing Else Matters" and "Enter Sandman." They then left the stage before returning for an encore which began in the dark with the acoustic intro of "Battery," and then hitting the lights for the song's slaying mile-a-minute riffing. The encore wrapped up with loud fireworks, black Metallica beach balls thrown int the crowd and two more live staples, "One" and "Seek & Destroy" and after the members of the band continued to thank the crowd for coming and making their festival a success.

More Orion Music Fest coverage to come. Lots more pictures, including Roky Erickson, Red Fang, Suicidal Tendencies, and more are below.

As mentioned, Orion Music & More happens this weekend in Atlantic CIty's Bader Field from June 23-24 and is being headlined by Metallica both nights, who play Ride the Lightning in full on Saturday (6/23) and The Black Album in full on Sunday (6/24). Other bands playing include Arctic Monkeys, Modest Mouse, Hot Snakes, Fucked Up, The Gaslight Anthem, Titus Andronicus, Best Coast, Liturgy, A Place to Bury Strangers, and more, plus a heavy stage with Suicidal Tendencies, Sepultura, Torche, Red Fang, Kyng, Landmine Marathon, Black Tusk, Thy Will Be Done and others. The heavy stage (aka "Damage, Inc.") isn't the only place you can catch heavy bands though. The festival also includes Baroness on the Orion stage, The Sword on the Fuel stage, Liturgy on the Frantic stage, and Ghost on the Orion stage. You can check out the full schedule of both days and all four stages HERE.

As mentioned, it's the first time in a while that Modest Mouse will be in the NYC area. They play Orion on Saturday (6/23) before heading to Randall's Island for Governors Ball, which also happens this weekend.

If you're heading out to Atlantic City for the fest this weekend, head here for directions. If you're driving, there's no on-site parking at the field, but there are a number of parking areas nearby and free shuttles that run from the lots to Bader Field. If you're taking the train, you can get there via the Amtrak or the NJ Transit Rail and there will be a free shuttle from the Atlantic City terminal to the festival. Once you're there, this map should help you get around. We're also told that it's about a 20-30 minute walk from the boardwalk.

In related news," Kirk's Crypt" isn't the only place Mr. Hammett will be indulging in his love of all things creepy. He'll be publishing a book titled Too Much Horror Business - The Kirk Hammett Collection this October via Abrams Image with photographs of his personal collection of horror memorabilia. The book also includes Kirk's own handwritten captions for many of the photographs. He'll be putting out limited edition toys, like the ones he's been collecting his whole life, along with the book this October. You can pre-order the book at Kirk's online toy store. He'll be discussing the book at Kirk's Crypt at 4 PM each day.

Maybe his old friend Glenn Danzig will add it to his book collection...

As it turns out, Beyoncé Knowles will not be the first artist to sing at the new Ovation Hall at Revel Resorts in Atlantic City. This morning, the casino hotel -- which will celebrate its grand opening on May 25 with the first of three Beyoncé concerts -- announced an Ovation Hall show a week prior to the big date. The Black Keys, the Grammy-winning Akron blues-rock duo with a lovably grimy sound, will appear at Revel on May 19. Tickets for the Black Keys concert go on sale March 30 at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster.

Technically, the Keys won't be the first act to play at Revel, either. The hotel is opening a second performance space called the Social, a smaller room than the 5000-seat Ovation Hall. (This is likely to be similar to the division at the Borgata -- the Event Center handles the really big acts, and the Music Box takes care of the more intimate shows.) Revel is planning a soft opening -- they're calling it an eight-week preview -- on Apr. 2, and the casino is marking the occasion with a Social performance by Danish noise-pop the Raveonettes.

After an initial announcement featured bands from across the map, Metallica's Atlantic City summer festival Orion Music & More(June 23rd and 24th at Bader Field) has announced more bands and a "Damage Inc" stage. The new stage has a more metal focus while avoiding the standard "Summer Slaughter"/"Monster Energy Drink Mayhem Festival" type fare. Suicidal Tendencies will headine the stage, which will also feature Sepultura, Torche, Red Fang, Kyng, Landmine Marathon, Black Tusk, and Thy Will Be Done.

Eric Church, The Jim Breuer Heavy Metal Comedy Tour, Soul Rebels, and Wooden Shjips have also been added to the lineup.

I wish it was Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning, or Kill 'Em All on one night, but I'll take Ride the Lightning which Metallica announced via Livestream that they'll be performing in its entirety at their Orion Festival in Atlantic City. It's Ride the Lightning one night and the Black Album the other.

Adele has been forced to cancel her upcoming 10 city sold-out tour of the U.S. due to a haemorrhage into her vocal chord. Vocal chord issues forced the British singer to postpone dates earlier this year as well. Adele has just wrapped up touring around the UK and was preparing to kick off her US tour on October 7 in Atlantic City, NJ when her illness reappeared (see below for full list of cancelled US tour dates). Renowned for her powerful live vocal performances, Adele has been advised by doctors that she'll need an extended rest period in order to begin to recuperate properly. Further details to follow regarding these cancelled dates. Refunds may be obtained at point of purchase.

You can read a more personal letter along with a list of the cancelled dates and Adele's new video for "Someone Like You", below...